Disclaimer: All I want for Christmas is complete intellectual property rights to Naruto. And a pony.

Fifty Winks

Tenten sighed in her sleep, burrowing deeper into her soft, new bed. It had cost a hefty sum, and she had saved up quite a few mission payments to afford it, but it was worth it. As she had explained to her two skeptical teammates when they had first seen her purchase, one had to invest in a good bed since one-third of a person's life was spent sleeping, and it helped her tell the difference between missions and home. After a long haul of sleeping outdoors when their shinobi duties sent them out of Konoha, coming home to relax in an actual bed functioned as a sort of closure which convinced her both mentally and physically that work was finally done and she would wake up refreshed for another round, be it of trainings or missions.

Unfortunately, a really good bed also served as a temptation to oversleep, and as one is usually already asleep when this temptation occurs, it often meets with very little resistance.

Tenten sat bolt upright at the sensation of being watched. Before she could do anything, the light on her table lamp came on and she was faced with the long-suffering visage of her friend and teammate, whom she had promised to spar with early that morning.

"I'm sorry Neji!" she threw the covers aside hurriedly, "I overslept! I'll be ready in a sec! Just wait here!" she was caught between standing up, bowing to Neji in apology, fixing her unbound hair, and trying to kick off the corner of the blanket that clung stubbornly to her foot, apparently in an effort to plead with her to come back to bed. This complex combination only served to ruin her balance and tilt her headlong into the Hyuuga. Although Neji usually deflected falling objects with a Kaiten, it was lucky for Tenten that he merely caught her to steady her footing. She was so mortified she didn't catch the gleam of amusement in his eyes as she quickly recovered and rushed off to the bathroom, still babbling apologies and offering various recompenses, from training for an extra hour to lunch treats to saving his life during the next mission, if it ever came to that, not that she wouldn't save him if she was punctual of course, but...

Neji sat on the bed gingerly, and noted that it WAS quite comfortable. Just the right amount of firmness to provide support, but soft and welcoming too. The sheets were still warm from Tenten's body heat. He gave a very un-Hyuuga like experimental bounce on the mattress. Yes, it was a rather good buy.

Tenten rushed out of the bathroom not five minutes later and was about to ransack her closet for her training gear when she saw him stretched out quite lazily on her bed, staring at the ceiling in a contemplative manner. The strangeness of the sight stopped her in her tracks.

"It's early," was all he drawled, and Tenten, glancing at her wall clock for the first time, realized that Neji had arrived at her apartment an hour ahead of their scheduled training.

"Then what are you doing here? You only come here if I'm late and not at the training grounds at the agreed upon time," Tenten exclaimed, a little angry now that he hadn't bothered to tell her the moment she awoke that she HADN'T overslept.

"Well, you're usually up an hour earlier anyway," he pointed out. Which was true. Tenten enjoyed a long shower, breakfast, and took a bit of time putting up her hair in buns before beginning a day of training. "I just came from training with Hiashi-sama, and figured since I might oversleep if I went to bed now, I decided I'd just go straight to pick you up for our training."

It still wasn't a reason to let her go on and on the way he had awhile ago, and they both knew it. Tenten huffed, and sat down on the side of the bed, glaring at him while her adrenaline rush faded. He looked at her and she recognized the amusement this time. She hmphed again, and pointedly began to comb her hair in slow, deliberate strokes, her way of telling him that they weren't starting training early just because he felt like it. He said nothing, and Tenten knew he wouldn't apologize. Jerk.

"You came straight here after training with Hiashi-san, you said?" she suddenly asked. As discretely as she could, she began to lean a bit towards him.

"I took a shower before coming here, don't worry," Neji said dryly, and Tenten, in the same casual fashion, returned to her hair-combing as if she hadn't just been trying to sniff him. It was a new bed, after all, and she had just changed the covers.

"I was just worried that you hadn't gotten any sleep. And now you want to train with me for the next five hours?" she said blithely, "And we all just came from a mission last night, I don't think it's very healthy."

"Not much sleep," he murmured, closing his eyes. Tenten's heart immediately went out to him, as it did to Lee whenever she saw him overextending himself. Of course, usually she started shaking Lee violently and berating him for his carelessness at this point, but she never could bring herself to treat Neji in similar fashion. When she tried to reflect on why this was so, all she could come up with was that Neji never said "Yosh!" in quite as irritating a manner as Lee did, hence the urge to shake and berate him was very much diminished. Neji was just not a "Yosh" sort of guy.

It was Tenten's turn for a gleam to shine in her eyes as she saw Neji begin to lightly doze. Carefully laying down her comb, she surreptitiously reached over her team mate and, in a smooth movement she congratulated herself upon, drew the covers across him while worming her way to lie snugly beside him. It wasn't a big bed, but it could accomodate two persons lying closely together.

"What are you doing?"

"Eh?" she turned innocent wide eyes to meet a severe white gaze merely inches away from her. "Like you said, it's still early. We can catch a little shut-eye before training. It's much better than not sleeping at all Neji. Even a short nap has been proven to increase productivity, alertness, creativity, problem solving ability, lower stress levels, rejuvenate the body and enhance moods."

She had never been completely sure before, but up close she finally confirmed that Neji could indeed roll his eyes. "Hmph. You sound like Gai-sensei."

"That's mean," she pouted. He smirked, and the effect of that smile on Tenten was multiplied tenfold at their proximity. She sighed when Neji sat up, disappointed now that he would force her to get up as well. Surprisingly, he merely reached past her to flick off her table lamp.

"Sweet dreams, Tenten."

Neji wouldn't admit it, but he enjoyed feeling his teammate giggling quietly against his back. That pout she gave had been really cute too, especially when their faces had been so close, nearly touching. This really was a comfy bed...

They slept well past their scheduled training time. But the saner half of Team Gai deserved some down time once in a while.

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End

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